


hawks and hounds

by blackkat



Series: hawks 'verse [3]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blood and Injury, F/M, Friendship, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:21:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25204624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat
Summary: “Need any help?” Rex asks, maybe a little desperately.Waxer gives him a look, pained and a touch resigned, as he shapes burgers and sets them out on a tray. “I'm fine, Rex. Just like the last six times you asked me.”
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody/Obi-Wan Kenobi, CC-5052 | Bly/Aayla Secura, CT-6116 | Kix/Agen Kolar, Colt (Star Wars)/Shaak Ti, Jon Antilles/CT-7567 | Rex, Savage Opress/Waxer
Series: hawks 'verse [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1825195
Comments: 30
Kudos: 731





	hawks and hounds

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt: Hawks and handsaws 'verse - for dramas maybe cryptid prof Jon notices poachers trying to steal hawk eggs, and gets into an altercation and needs basic medical assistance? Or maybe for funnies a couple of other vode and their equivalent Jedi-professors come in to gossip/see who Obi-wan's new beau is, only to see the local feral professor lurking around, like 'Jon? You're alive and here??'

“Need any help?” Rex asks, maybe a little desperately.

Waxer gives him a look, pained and a touch resigned, as he shapes burgers and sets them out on a tray. “I'm fine, Rex. Just like the last six times you asked me.”

With a groan, Rex slumps down over the island, thumping his head on the tile. If he’s wearing out _Waxer’s_ patience, he’s definitely too much right now. Unlike some family members, he can actually recognize that, so he sighs and says, “Sorry.”

There's a quiet chuckle, a scrape as a bowl is nudged closer. “If you're really that set on helping, you can portion out the bread dough for me,” Waxer says magnanimously, and Rex hates the feel of raw bread dough but he’s desperate enough to take the bowl anyway, as well as the bag of flour Waxer elbows closer.

“Thanks,” he says miserably, and pokes at the sticky mass for a moment before bracing himself and digging out a piece.

“About half the size of a peach,” Waxer says. There's a moment of silence as he settles the last burger patty on the tray, then goes to wash his hands. When he turns around, though, he leans back against the edge of the sink and asks, “Are you really that upset about Cody having a party for Professor Kenobi?”

“Of course not,” Rex says, a little offended that he would think so. When Waxer makes no move, though, he rolls his eyes and says, “I called Jon to invite him two days ago, but I haven’t heard back from him yet.”

“Your mountain man?” Waxer asks, amused, and laughs when Rex makes a face at him. “Maybe he doesn’t get cell reception where he is.”

That, Rex allows, is entirely possible. The invitation was last-minute, too, but—

Jon had mentioned coming down off the mountain, and staying down for at least a month while a handful of grants went through and he was in meetings with the university. Rex had been hoping that that meant they could maybe spend a little extra time together, even if they still haven’t exactly talked about status or exclusivity or anything like that. He’s just—

“Moping,” Waxer says wisely. “You're moping. That’s what this is.”

“Oh, shut your face,” Rex mutters, jabbing at the dough. “Have you asked that exchange student out yet?”

Waxer goes red, all the way up his shaved skull. It’s incredibly amusing. “I told Boil that in _confidence_.”

“Boil,” Rex says, “has a mouth like a floodgate. If you trust him, you get what you deserve. So?”

“I haven’t asked Savage out,” Waxer says with dignity, and maybe a little bit of petulance. “He’s taking care of his two younger brothers _and_ working towards a double degree. I'm not _that_ mean.”

“You're not mean at all,” Rex says, amused. “If he’s got that much on his plate, I'm sure he could use a little time to unwind. Why don’t you corner him somewhere nice and private and give him a—”

“ _Rex_!”

“—kiss,” Rex finishes, smirking, and drops another ball of dough on the tray. “Why? What did you think I was going to say?”

“Exactly what you were planning to say,” Waxer mutters. “Please go call your boyfriend again and stop torturing me.”

“Never,” Rex swears solemnly, and abandons the rolls, washing his hands and then slipping out of the kitchen as Waxer takes over. He doesn’t call Jon, because he doesn’t want to harass him, but he does check his phone as he steps out into the back yard, where Cody and Kix are setting up tables and Fives is hanging lights. There are no new calls, and his text is still unread, and with a sigh he tells himself that he can see Jon later, then asks, “Anything that still needs doing?”

“Waxer finally chase you out of the kitchen?” Cody asks, smirking. “What did he throw at you?”

“Curses when I asked why he hadn’t jumped that exchange student yet,” Rex says, not about to hesitate in throwing Waxer under the bus. It’s his own fault for hesitating, anyway. Rex gets enough of that with Cody and his belligerent crush on Obi-Wan.

“ _Still_?” Kix asks, looking up from where he’s stacking dishes. “It’s been three _months_.”

Rex and Fives exchange looks, because that’s _incredibly_ rich coming from a man who still can't admit that his relationship with Agen Kolar is anything but a fuck buddy situation, even after what’s closing in on two years. Rex has _seen_ Kix and Agen together. Agen's a little oblivious to most things, but if Kix offered him a ring right this second, Rex is absolutely sure that he would say yes and drag Kix off to a courthouse immediately.

“Right,” Fives drawls after a moment. “It’s impressive how he can't catch a clue, right?”

“Yeah,” Rex agrees, smirking, and very pointedly doesn’t look at either Kix or Cody. “Makes me want to lock them in a room together. Right, Fives?”

“A room with nice sturdy walls,” Fives agrees, grinning, and jumps down from the ladder. “Have you seen the _size_ of that bastard? I swear, he’s over seven feet tall. Waxer’s going to have his, uh, _hands_ full if you know what I mean—”

“Please don’t,” Cody says, pained, and clamps his hands over his ears. “That’s my little brother you're talking about.”

Fives laughs, unrepentant, and tosses another string of lights over the pine tree leaning through the fence. Thankfully for the sake of Cody's sanity, before he can say anything else there's the sound of a knock on the gate, and Rex moves to answer it, since he’s the only one who doesn’t have his hands full.

“Rex!” Obi-Wan says, pleased, when he opens the gate. He’s carrying several bottles of wine and a bag of chips, which from experience Rex can confirm is the extent of his cooking skills, but he’s also dressed down in a sweater and jeans instead of a sweater and slacks. The sweater has elbow patches. Rex honestly kind of despairs of Cody's taste.

“Obi-Wan,” Rex says, and then nods to the tall, beautiful woman behind him. “Professor Ti, it’s good to see you again.”

“Please, call me Shaak,” she says kindly. “Thank you for the invitation, Rex.”

“It’s my pleasure.” Rex absolutely invited her for her own merits, but it’s also vaguely for the purpose of fucking with Cody, who at least has the sense to be ashamed of his rabid tendencies where Obi-Wan is concerned once he realizes Obi-Wan isn't _actually_ dating everyone he stands within six feet of. “No grad student today, Obi-Wan?”

“Anakin is visiting his mother, and he took Ahsoka with him, I believe,” Obi-Wan says, and that smile is just a little wicked. “I have three weeks to be as wild as I like without their supervision.”

Rex snorts, hoping he directs some of that wildness Cody's way. “You know he’ll hear all about it when he gets back.”

Obi-Wan’s smile slides into a grimace. “Yes, well, Shaak has invited me to come back to Brazil with her. I may just take her up on the offer sooner than she intended.”

Shaak chuckles, raising a hand to her lips to hide it, and sweeps her long skirts around herself as she sits down on the edge of the bench. “You are always welcome, Obi-Wan,” she says, just a touch dry. “But I don’t believe an ocean will save you from Anakin Skywalker.”

Obi-Wan sighs in dramatic, resigned agreement, just as there's another knock at the gate. Rex goes to open it, and raises a brow at the sight of the Dean of the College of Sciences standing outside.

“Professor Windu,” he says politely, and steps aside to give him room. “Hey, Ponds.”

“Rex. I heard you picked up a date in a cave on the reserve,” Ponds says with good humor. Rex groans, punching him hard in the shoulder.

“That’s what you get for listening when Fives opens is mouth,” he says pointedly.

Ponds grins at him. “I know better than that. It wasn’t Fives who told me, it was Cody.”

“While he was still convinced Obi-Wan was dating someone besides him, I presume,” Mace says dryly, and Rex winces. If even the dean of the department knows about Cody and Obi-Wan’s mutual idiocy, there’s probably no hope for them.

“Probably,” he says, and Mace raises an unimpressed brow and then offers up a very tall, very fancy cake covered in artistic swirls of whipped cream and berries.

“I was told I could contribute,” he says. “Is there a place I should leave it?”

Rex eyes the cake, then Mace, who’s perfectly stone-faced. He’s not someone Rex would have pegged as the baking type, but—hidden depths, clearly. _Ponds_ definitely didn’t make that; he hates sweets, and Rex is pretty sure Mace doesn’t make his TAs do his baking, no matter how friendly he is with them.

“Waxer’s keeping the desserts inside, to cut down on temptation,” he says. “You can leave it in there if you want to make sure no one sticks a finger in the frosting.”

“I’ll show you,” Ponds agrees, and leads Mace towards the house. Mace pauses to speak with Shaak, who smiles at him, and Rex leaves them to it, turning back to the driveway just as a sleek black motorcycle rumbles around the corner.

Cody even managed to pry _Colt_ out of his office, Rex thinks, mildly impressed. As Colt pulls his helmet off, Rex leans a shoulder against the edge of the gate and calls, “Sorry, no strangers. Whatever you're selling, take it somewhere else.”

Colt scoffs and makes a rude gesture, swinging off the bike and dropping his helmet on the handlebar. “What’s got you all mopey?” he asks. “Lose something?”

“His boyfriend!” Cody calls from the garden, because he’s an _asshole_.

One of Colt's brows goes up, and he eyes Rex as he approaches. “Boyfriend? You're _dating_?”

“You don’t need to sound so surprised,” Rex says, annoyed.

“Of course I do,” Colt says, and then stops short, eyes widening. His gaze isn't fixed on Rex, but past him, and Rex turns, takes one look at what— _who_ —caught Colt's attention, and grins.

“Her name’s Shaak Ti,” he says, and sees the recognition of the name cross Colt's face. “If you ever stuck your head outside of your office, you’d probably have heard she was visiting the science department. Evolutionary biology, I think.”

“I'm a _grad student_ , I don’t have time to _breathe_ ,” Colt retorts, but he steps past Rex and makes a beeline for where Shaak is sitting. Rolling his eyes, Rex stays where he is, taking the opportunity to check his phone again now that everyone’s sufficiently distracted.

Still no calls. Still unread. Something twinges in his chest, and he wonders how Jon's doing. He’d mentioned that the fledglings they saw on their last hike were starting to explore the edges of the nests, and the juveniles were learning how to hunt in packs. There'd been an invitation for Rex to come up to the nesting grounds with him again, and Rex had already been planning how to get the days off from the store.

He’ll still do that. Jon has his work, and Rex knows how much he loves it, _likes_ how much he loves it. He just…misses him, that’s all.

With a sigh, Rex shoves his phone away and goes to see if he can badger Waxer into letting him help again.

“The whole building’s been so quiet with Nico gone,” Aayla complains, seated in Bly's lap by the fire as the sun sinks down over the mountains. Rex, who was halfheartedly stacking the dessert plates, raises a brow, but before he can comment, Bly laughs, hooking his arms around her.

“You're just sad you don’t have any new videos to upload,” he says.

Aayla's sigh is disappointed and mournful, but her smile is wicked as she leans back against him. “I miss the screaming,” she says. “I could always tell what time it was when they started up. Like clockwork.”

Obi-Wan groans, raising his hands. “If I have to listen to Dooku complain to Qui-Gon about classless heathens in the science department one more time, I'm going to throw something at them both,” he says. “So speak for yourself. The quiet has been _wonderful_.”

Shaak, pressed shoulder to shoulder with Colt even though there’s several feet of free bench around them, chuckles a little, cradling her wine glass between her hands. “I heard,” she says, amused, “that Nico is planning to bring Knol and Fay back with him when he returns from sabbatical. “I'm sure Dooku will be most pleased.”

Mace grimaces, looking pained, and Ponds chuckles. “Pleased as a cat in a bathtub,” he says dryly.

“At least,” Mace says, “he’ll have to complain to Yoda. Dooku and the Arts Department are none of my concern.”

“I heard Professor Vos is also coming back for next semester,” Waxer offers, hip to hip with Boil and serving as Echo and Fives's pillow. Rex would have pushed both of them into the pool at around the time they started drooling on him, but Waxer is too nice for his own good, especially with the younger brothers.

Obi-Wan perks up faintly at that. “He is? He didn’t tell _me_ that. Waxer, where precisely are you getting your information?”

“Sorry, Professor, anonymous sources,” Waxer says, grinning. “I made a pinky promise.”

With a huff, Obi-Wan sinks back down into the grass, apparently unaware of how Cody's suddenly come to attention. “ _I'm_ his best friend, one would think he’d actually tell me these things,” he says, vaguely offended.

Rex very deliberately kicks Cody in the ribs just as he goes to open his mouth. “Vos?” he asks, instead of whatever stupid thing Cody was about to say. “What’s he teach?”

“Archeology,” Obi-Wan says, vaguely pained. “Think of Indiana Jones with a worse fashion sense, but with a focus on restoring artifacts instead of stealing them. And then set that image on fire and drop it in a dumpster.”

Definitely friends, Rex thinks wryly, and can't resist the urge to check his phone once more before he stuffs it back into his pocket. Still no new messages. He’ll just…have to try again tomorrow.

“With Quinlan, Nico, Knol, _and_ Fay in residence, we’ll have a full complement of science department cryptids again,” Ponds says, a little rueful, and Mace pauses, looking regretful for a moment.

“Yes, well,” he says. “It will be a nice change from the last year.”

Obi-Wan looks vaguely confused for a moment, but before he can say anything, Rex catches the faintest echo of the front doorbell. Blinking, he turns, surprised, because anyone they invited tonight knows to come in through the garden. The front’s only for strangers.

“Excuse me,” he says, sliding down from the table and quickly heading up the steps. There’s one more quiet ring as he makes his way through the house, and then nothing, and Rex frowns a little, quickly unlocking the main door. He can see a shadow through the frosted glass, a dark figure, and he wonders for a moment if something’s happened—

But the figure standing there is perfectly familiar, and Rex's heart leaps as it comes clear.

“Jon,” he says, and there's warmth washing through him, a brightness he can't help. “You got my message? There's still—”

“Rex,” Jon interrupts, and Rex stops in surprise, because he’s never done that before. Then, belatedly, it registers that Jon is standing strangely, hunched over a little, with his oversized coat hanging off him like he’s trying to keep it from touching his side. “I'm sorry to bother you, but—do you have a first aid kit?”

Rex's heart _drops_ , at exactly the same moment as he notices speckles of something dark on the porch. “You're _bleeding_ ,” he says, alarm crackling through his chest. “ _Kix_!”

“It’s not. Terrible,” Jon says quietly, careful like he’s trying not to stumble over the words, but the paleness of his face is the furthest thing from reassuring. So is the way he trips as he takes a step forward. Rex has to grab him, careful of his side where he has his hand pressed to his ribs, and he steers him in, though the entryway and straight to the nearest stool in the kitchen. There are running steps, a thump, and without even looking up from where he’s easing Jon's coat off, Rex says, “Kix, got your kit with you?”

Kix takes one look at Jon, at the blood, and runs for his car.

“I'm sorry,” Jon says, barely audible. “I was just—hoping you would have something—”

Rex takes a breath, marshals himself. There's a pulse of adrenaline in his veins, sharp and unpleasant and familiar, but—he can think through adrenaline. He’s had practice. “Don’t be,” he says firmly. “I'm glad you came. But what the hell _happened_?”

“Poachers,” Jon rasps, and there's what looks like a bandana folded up and pressed against his side, completely soaked through with blood. He hisses when Rex carefully replaces his hand and applies pressure, but lets go of it with relief and strips off his shirt with careful speed. “After the hawks.”

“You got _shot_ ,” Rex says evenly, because he knows what that looks like.

“A graze,” Jon counters, and the fact that he’s so calm makes Rex's eyes narrow.

He looks from the scattering of scars over Jon's torso to the deep graze and then up at Jon's face, and says in disbelief, “This has happened _before_?”

Jon freezes, looking caught, and that’s answer enough.

And then, from the doorway, there's a sharp intake of breath. “Dr. _Antilles_?” Colt says, and at the same moment Aayla drops her glass, pure shock written across her face.

“ _What_?” Mace says, in that flat, expectant tone that demands everyone either answer or get out of his way. Colt practically flattens himself against the wall, and Aayla ducks into a doorway as they let him through, and Mace takes two steps into the kitchen and stops dead.

Completely bewildered, Rex looks from Jon to Mace to Obi-Wan, still in the hall, but Obi-Wan looks just as confused as he feels.

“Uh,” he says, only to have Kix elbow him out of the way and toss his medical bag onto the table, flipping it open and grabbing for gloves.

“Any allergies you know about?” he asks, and Jon winces.

“No,” he says. “I just—butterfly bandages and antibacterial ointment?”

“Hah,” Kix says flatly, completely unimpressed and unmoved. “This needs stitches at _least_.”

“I,” Mace says pointedly, “am still waiting for an explanation as to why you're not _dead_ , Dr. Antilles.”

Of all the things Rex was expecting him to say, that’s the absolute _last_. “What?” he demands.

Raising a brow, Mace crosses his arms over his chest. “You disappeared from the hospital,” he says to Jon. “You left a smear of _blood_ on the _window_.”

“ _What_?” Rex maybe feels a little lightheaded. “Why were you in the hospital?”

Jon ducks his head, hunching in on himself as best he can with Kix cleaning the wound. “It was last year,” he says. “The last poachers.”

“The poachers who were also in the hospital,” Aayla says, and she at least sounds a little impressed where she’s leaning against the wall, eyeing Jon. “They claimed they had hunted you over the whole mountainside before you got them—”

“ _What._ ” Rex takes a step towards Jon, unable to help himself, and Jon winces.

“They were _poachers_ ,” he mutters. “Just after feathers. Of course I stopped them. And then I went back to make sure the birds were okay.”

“Excuse me,” Obi-Wan chimes in. “You thought he was _dead_? And no one _told me_?”

Mace pauses, looking at him for a long moment. “You were on a research trip,” he says. “By the time you returned, I thought you’d been informed.”

“I most certainly was not,” Obi-Wan says, perfectly polite. “Jon, when you said you hadn’t left the reserve since last year, I thought you were _joking_.”

“Why would I joke about that?” Jon asks, bewildered. “I didn’t want anyone hurting the hawks, so I stayed.”

Obi-Wan presses a hand over his eyes. “This serves me right for dragging you to get a new phone without asking what happened to the last one,” he says. “Next time, _please_ , accost a hiker and borrow their mobile, all right?”

Silently, Jon nods, then winces when Kix pulls back.

“I'm assuming you don’t want to go to the hospital for stitches?” he asks, and when Jon hesitates, like he’s trying to find the right answer, he sighs. “All right. I have some local with me that I can give you, if you're all right with me stitching it.”

“Thank you,” Jon says quietly, and glances over at Rex like he’s checking for a reaction.

Rex doesn’t _know_ how to react, honestly. “You took out a whole group of poachers?” he asks. “ _Twice_?”

Jon grimaces. “They were going to kill _jaig hawks_ for nothing but _feathers_ ,” he says, like that’s all the defense he needs.

Rex breathes out a laugh, stepping forward, and he pulls Jon in, rests their foreheads together for a long moment before he tips his head and kisses him softly. “Next time, call me,” he says. “I can help.”

“ _Rex_ ,” Kix protests, horrified, and Colt laughs. Jon smiles, just a little, and nods.

“I’ll need to get a new phone,” he confesses. “Mine got shot. Again.”

…well. If Rex ever expected dating an academic to be boring, clearly he was very mistaken.

He’s not objecting at all.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Nightbrothers' Bake Shop](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25246060) by [RoeDusk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoeDusk/pseuds/RoeDusk)




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